


More Than Words

by FreckledSkittles



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, JeanMarco Gift Exchange, M/M, Pining, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:21:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21920239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreckledSkittles/pseuds/FreckledSkittles
Summary: For the 2019 JeanMarco Gift Exchange.Vignettes of Jean Kirstein and Marco Bodt pining for each other and taking their time to get to each other.
Relationships: Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: JeanMarco Gift Exchange 2019





	More Than Words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moist (moist_rosebud)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moist_rosebud/gifts).



> Happy holidays, moist_rosebud! It was an absolute pleasure to write this fic for you and I hope you enjoy it and have a great holiday <3
> 
> There's something so sweet about college boys in dork love and I hope this covers it! Their friends are very persistent ;)
> 
> Enjoy!

_ October _

It’s 9 AM and Jean already wishes he had stayed in his dorm room.

Reiner and Armin are good friends. He enjoys their company, their banter, their caring demeanors that wrap him up in warmth after a long day. But their weekly breakfast dates in the mess hall should not include a discussion on his love life. They are, in fact, one of the only things that help him wake up and get out of bed. But if they’re going to be nosy, Jean feels better off doing his own thing at his own pace on his own terms.

“You guys did this two weeks ago,” he chides. “I told you then I don’t want your help, and I’ll say it again,” Jean slams his spoon into his bowl of cereal, “I don’t need anyone barging in on my personal life.”

“Fair enough,” Reiner says, hands raised to defend himself in case Jean lashed out across the table. “But,” Jean rolls his eyes at the added notion, “if we were to help guide you in the right direction, then wouldn’t that be helpful?”

Armin nods. “We aren’t telling you what to do. We’re just giving you advice.”

“That I didn’t ask for,” Jean points out.

Reiner scowls as Armin continues. “Maybe not, but if you haven’t even heard what we have to say, how can you judge it?”

Well. That was a fair point. So far, any attempts they had made to speak about his love life had been shut down. Jean doesn’t like to listen to people who tell him to do this or that in his personal life. He used to hate school projects for the same reason; he despised high school cliques telling him who to hang out with and who to avoid; he wanted to do his own thing. It didn’t seem like a crime to him. But if his friends want to say something, coming from genuine places that respected and cared for him, he might be inclined to listen.

“Fine,” Jean huffs. “But if it drags on for more than ten, I’m calling it off.”

“That’s fair,” Armin says, Reiner agreeing with a firm nod. “We promise it won’t take that long.”

Reiner shares a quick look with Armin, a silent question for permission, before he leans forward and folds his hands in front of him. “Jean, when did you meet Marco?”

Jean raises an eyebrow at that. His expectations had been on something personal, sure, but he hadn’t expected Marco to come up; maybe he was right in letting them speak. “Freshman year orientation, after we were assigned as roommates.”

“And a year later, what are you now?”

“Roommates.”

“Would you say you two are best friends?” Armin asks.

Jean doesn’t have to think about that answer. He replies instantly with a nod and a roll of his shoulders. “Hell yeah, of course. I’d trust Marco with my life.”

Reiner smirks at that; Armin, staying a bit more relaxed, just nods. “Okay. And do you have any plans to be more than that?”

Jean glances between them but for once, neither of them reveals anything. “I mean…sure?”

Reiner scoffs and leans back in the booth. “That’s it? That’s all you got.”

Armin shuts down whatever complaints he has by stretching his arm in front of him. “That’s all we needed. Thanks, Jean.”

Jean glances between the two of them but says nothing. He doesn’t even notice that Marco is having a similar conversation a few feet away with a similar outcome.

* * *

_ November _

It’s the week before finals and Marco is cramming as much information for his classes as he can.

Out of his five classes, two don’t have finals and two others aren’t cumulative, meaning their content only covers the most recent weeks. He can’t remember the last time he read something that wasn’t related to his courses, sprawled in a library’s study room and practically falling asleep.

“You almost done reading?” Ymir asks, cleaning up the various Spanish vocabulary words she had been written on the whiteboard provided in the room. She chuckles when Marco grunts in lieu of a verbal response. “So relatable. Might as well finish up soon so you can return to your roommate. Emphasis on the ‘mate.’”

Marco snorts and glances up at her momentarily. Her back is facing him but he can hear the smirk in her voice. “Why the emphasis?”

“I dunno. You two are pretty loud with your mutual attraction.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

Ymir stares at him with a bit of a mischievous glint in her eyes. Marco hadn’t missed the way his friends had been bugging him about his personal life since the semester began, specifically when it involved Jean. He didn’t have anything wrong with it, and he and Jean were definitely comfortable with their respected sexualities. But there was nothing wrong with what they had. If Jean was up for maybe trying to extend their personal relationship, he was open to the idea, but he wasn’t going to force it when there was nothing to change or improve.

Marco shuts the textbook he’s reading and packs his things into his backpack. “Well, whatever you’re trying to imply, I’m not in the mood to hear it.”

“Oh, come on,” Ymir scoffs.

“It’s the week before finals and you wanna discuss my supposed romantic feelings for my best friend.”

“Well, do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Have romantic feelings for Jean?”

Marco rolls his eyes. He tosses his backpack onto his shoulders and waits for Ymir to stop cackling and join him at the door. He remembers Jean mentioning Reiner and Armin bugging him about his personal life; had they asked him the same thing Ymir had? “Even if I did, would that be something I would tell literally  _ anyone _ in our friend group?”

“As your fellow freckled gay, that’s the only thing I could ever want.”

“Too bad I won’t,” Marco mumbles. As much as he loved Ymir, he knew better than to trust her—or anyone in their friend group, for that matter—with private information like who he was interested in.

Ymir nudges him as they leave the study room, unable to catch Jean, equally as stressed, studying a few feet behind them.

* * *

_ January _

Jean wraps Marco up in a large hug when he returns to their dorm. Marco laughs and squeezes him back, resisting the urge to swing him around and bury his face in the peek of Jean’s neck from his coat.

“I missed you, man,” Jean says once they regather themselves and flops on his bed. “How was your break?”

“Pretty good,” Marco replies, offering a Dr. Pepper to Jean and tossing it to him when he nods fervently. “Marisa and I snuck out on Christmas Eve out with Ginger to make snowmen at the dog park.”

Jean laughs softly at that. He had met the Bodt’s family golden retriever Ginger and could imagine Marco and his younger sister running through the dog park, trying to prank each other with snowballs or dropping snow down each other’s jackets. “I bet your mom liked that.”

“She got over it pretty quick. How was your mom’s family?”

He shrugs. “Nothing new. My aunts almost got in a fight over a bottle of wine, though.”

Marco’s eyes light up and he plops down beside Jean. If Jean’s stomach reacts with a lunge, or if Marco’s hands stir to move closer and tangle their fingers together, he is none the wiser. Conversation flows so easily for them. It feels natural that they would flow to that point.

* * *

_ March _

Jean discovers something is up between him and his roommate in March.

It’s a gradual process, one that takes its time to run through his mind and stomp itself on his heart every time Marco so much as laughs. Jean starts to notice little things about Marco: the way two of his freckles cave into his dimples when he smiles, how bright his eyes shine when he’s chatting about a lecture that reminded him of Jean, how often he procrastinates through daydreams that make his lips curl up in wispy content and turn the brightness of the world down so that he can shine through that much better.

The “problem” isn’t so much that Jean is thinking these sort of things, but that they’re suddenly invading his mind and yelling at him for attention. He knew how easy it was for Marco to get distracted and drift off or how deep those little rivulets caved when he laughed. But they’re prominent now to the point where Jean has to have someone else force him away.

Jean is helping Sasha out with a midterm for a class she’s struggling with when he notices Marco across the tables and chairs arranged in the seating area of the quad. Their schedules during the day were a bit more hectic this semester, so the chances of seeing each other before five was rarer. His class must have gotten canceled or released early, since Eren had joined him.

“So Teddy Roosevelt got upset with Taft because he wasn’t running the country the way he wanted?” Sasha says as a recap to what they had just gone over. When she doesn’t get a response, she follows Jean’s gaze to Marco and lets out an irritated groan. “Come on, seriously? You don’t have enough time to ogle him already?”

Jean breaks out of his stupor at that and clears his throat, straightening out as if to hide his blatant stares. “Yeah, Teddy wanted Taft to run the country how he did, but Taft was more progressive and ended up doing things Teddy didn’t like.”

“Hmm. Is that why Taft wasn’t re-elected?” Sasha waits five seconds to look at Jean again; once again, he’s enraptured with Marco, laughing with Eren and ordering food. “Jean!” At the sound of his name, Jean whips around to face her again. She smiles, partially made of pity but most of it fond. “Just ask him out already. You know he’ll say yes.”

Jean huffs; he wasn’t afraid of rejection. Or at least to the extent that everyone assumed he was. He and Marco were amazing friends; nothing could ever change that. And while he had an interest in Marco that could extend to romance, he wasn’t going to risk their friendship just for that. “I’ve already had this talk.”

Sasha scoffs. “Well clearly it didn’t do any good!” She grabs his hands across the table and squeezes. “I have it on good authority that if you were to ask Marco out on a date, as a romantic interest, he would say yes.”

“Whose authority, Reiner’s?” He grumbles and yelps when Sasha’s grip tightens.

“Jean Michael Kirstein, I’m not joking around and I’m not gonna beat around the bush.”

“I wish you would—ow!” Jean takes his hands back, reeling away from her with a glare and hiss. “Stop that!”

Sasha’s hands splay out on the tabletop. Unlike the chat Reiner and Armin had had with him a few months before, Sasha seems more focused on making him comply to her demands. It was almost terrifying if he didn’t know her so well. “You and Marco already make a great pair, and if you think it would be way better if you guys were dating, then you’re absolutely right. If you don’t think so, then we’ll all shut up and move on with our lives. But we feel something, and honestly everyone’s tired with both of your bullshit.”

Jean doesn’t give an answer; later on, when he heads back to his room and makes dinner, he’ll wonder if the lack of a response was enough for her. Sasha moved on after that, and their conversation stayed on her class for the rest of the time they spent together. Even when Marco walked by with a greeting and an extra flutter to Jean’s stomach.

* * *

_ October _

Both Marco and Jean end up dating people over the summer, but it doesn’t last for very long. Nicholas is too bland for Marco. Valerie wants different things from Jean. (When Marco hears this through text a week before the fall semester starts, and when he hears it retold to their friend group, he wants to ask what those things may be, but he never has a chance to.) Marco can’t help but wonder if his breakup was, in some small part, related to Jean.

Maybe he’s thinking that because Jean has snuck at least four glances to his bare legs while they watch a movie in their off-campus apartment. Maybe it’s because Jean falls asleep on his shoulder and is clearly comfortable with him staying right there and never moving again. Or maybe it’s because right before the movie started, Marco’s laugh sent Jean burrowing into his hoodie. It was endearing, as Marco has felt about most of the things Jean has done recently, and he would be lying if he denied the way it made him feel.

Marco has always had a fond spot for Jean. From the second they met, he knew he would be weak to him. Jean was all sharp edges and grumpy pouts, but he could open up when he felt comfortable enough and show that to others. He was funny and passionate, he was charming and thoughtful, and for all the shit he may give their friend group, Marco finds himself attached to him.

Jean doesn’t wake up until Marco lets loose the sneeze he had been trying to hold in. He straightens up and scoots a bit away from Marco, grumbling something about germs in true germaphobe fashion. Marco debates the different ways he could make up for it, running through the appropriate scenarios without bringing any unwanted attention from their roommates, and finally decides on a rather cheesy—but definitely safe—move.

Stretching his arms above his head, Marco slides his arms over the back of the couch with a long sigh. He lets his right arm linger just behind Jean, not enough to touch him but enough to make an offer in case he wants the contact. Jean faces forward, back rigid and mouth in a firm line, before he gives the slightest shift into Marco’s arm. He clears his throat to cover the movement, but Marco relishes in the victory. Jean barely flinches when he lets his arm rest further down, dropping right across his shoulders. The contact flares with heat and makes his insides churn with delight.

Maybe being something more than friends wasn’t that bad of an idea.

* * *

_ December _

“So I told her that we weren’t asking for her to do the project all on her own, but that she could still pitch in and help us out.”

“And?”

Marco scoffs and takes another bite of ice cream. “Apparently, that was being too pushy, and we were told to lay off.”

Jean rolls his eyes; when he had taken Marco’s offer to hang out and binge some ice cream over smack talk of their group partners for a class, he hadn’t expected them to sit and complain for two hours. So far, it’s been exactly what they both needed, and Jean could not be happier about it. “Unbelievable. Did she say anything after that? Like try to take credit for your work?”

Marco laughs. “No. I think she knew better. It makes me think she just didn’t wanna work with us in the first place and was phoning it in the entire time.”

“Sounds like a piece of work,” Jean grumbles. “Sucks it still happened though.”

“Eh. I’m okay with it.” Marco licks off the whipped cream on his spoon and leans back into his chair. “I’m glad it’s over. At least she got a good grade because of us.”

Jean smiles at that, mostly restrained from growing too far, but he’s unable to stop the swell of emotions in his chest. Marco has a wonderful soul, so warm and genuine and pure, and he would be a fool to ignore it. Hell, anyone would. But Jean can see that Marco means it. He  _ knows _ it; he’s seen it first-hand for two years. And, hopefully, it can continue for more.

Jean realizes a bit too late that he’s staring at Marco, practically ogling him and openly gazing at him. Marco blinks owlishly, a bit sheepish and his face glowing from a mix of a blush and the lights overhead. Jean never realized how good he looked like this—sitting across from him, relaxed, playful from the time spent with him after a long day. It’s enchanting, mesmerizing, borderline unbelievable if it came from someone else. But coming from Marco, stretching out like sunbeams, it’s only natural.

Marco smiles, and Jean feels his heart stutter in his chest. “Thanks for the ice cream,” he says.

“No problem,” Jean says, his own grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I thought it’d be a good fit after the stress you had to go through.”

“It’s definitely a perfect meal.”

Jean laughs quietly. “I’m not complaining. Remember last semester at Dairy Queen?”

Marco throws his head back with a loud cackle. “Oh god, yes! They almost kicked us out of the parking lot when we kept on buying blizzards.”

“I would have gone into debt for that.”

“I think you did.”

Jean kicks his knee under the table. Marco giggles and winks. He can’t help it; with the way Marco keeps on looking at him, and the way he keeps on staring back, there’s no way this can be explained as anything other than a date. “Is this a date?”

Marco tilts his head, his expression unreadable. “Do you want it to be?”

If they admitted to the feelings, if they accepted the fact that this small outing is simply them on a date with each other, it would change their relationship permanently. If they weren’t friends, they were going to be a couple, but if they lost both, there was no guarantee that they would stay on the foundation they had established since their early college days. But Jean was hardly ever a careful man. If there was a risk to take, he was going to agree to it.

Jean nods firmly and takes another bite of ice cream. “Yeah. I want it.”

Marco’s face breaks into a bright grin, and he reaches a hand over, palm upturned and eyes shining. Jean barely thinks about taking it; he lets the motion happen and meets Marco’s smile with his own, shy as it is. So far, so good.

* * *

Marco giggles once again when Jean bumps into the door and drops his keys with a curse. “Just forget them. I wanna cuddle.”

“As buds or as boyfriends?” Jean asks, kicking his keys aside and locking the door. The second he does, Marco wraps his arms around him and presses a small kiss on the bare skin of his shoulder. His lips tingle at the gesture, and he can only imagine what Jean is feeling.

“Does that answer your question?”

Jean scoffs. “Dork.” He turns and falls against the wall, arms falling to Marco’s sides and leading him into his arms. Marco drapes his arms over thin shoulders, relishing in the bout of warmth that erupts between them. It feels like years of separation coming together after so long of being lost. Maybe there’s a time they had where they couldn’t be together. Marco doesn’t care what it is, as long as he gets to spend that time with Jean.


End file.
